(I’m up late and it’s already Saturday) Today is our big church Hayride. We usually have a pretty big crowd, and we’re just hoping the rainy weather holds off until most of the festivities are over. Actually the rain looks like it is supposed to start at 7:00p.m. so maybe most everything will be done. We have called it “Taste of America” for quite a few years and it’s always a fun treat for the International Students who come. We have several “stations” around the yard that have different “American” things for them to taste… Caramel Apples (that will be me and my hubby doing this one), we have a mini apple pie station, popcorn balls, chunky applesauce made in a big kettle (and sometimes served over ice cream!) It’s really good! Then we have chili and hot dogs and lots of other food. After we eat, and it gets darker, there is the hayride, where everyone piles on the hay wagon and goes for a ride over the fields of the couple hosting the party.
We have a young man who will be calling the Square Dance in the barn and the International students really love this. There is so much laughing going on and picture taking! Nothing quite like sending home a picture to your parents in Japan or Brazil showing you square dancing! :o) Needless to say, we always have a great time.
I worked at the Food Pantry today and when I came home I had to finish unwrapping the MANY caramels I still had to do, and chopping up a 2 pound jar of peanuts to a smaller size… Also, so they go farther, we cut the apples into quarters, put them on a skewer stick and dip them in the caramel and then roll them in the toppings they want… mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, or chopped peanuts. I guarantee they are good! :o)
Since I had no time in my sewing room this afternoon and evening, I thought I’d ask a question… I was going to ask something about Fall… what’s your favorite thing to eat? Where’s your favorite place to go? What special things do you do in the Fall that you don’t do any other time of the year? But I decided to ask something totally unrelated to Fall…let’s see how this goes.
If you were going to give a Presentation, what would the topic be?
Well, sorry this is so short, but I’ll be back Monday, with several things checked off my to do list… and more time for sewing and “crafting!”
Don’t forget to be thinking of some funny story about sewing, cooking or crafting and email it to me before Wednesday. I’ll post your stories on Wednesday…
See you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, Jeanne, I remember your mentioning the “Taste of America” think and the annual hayride in past posts. It always sounds like so much fun!!
I actually like the idea of the caramel apples being pieces of apple, rather than a whole one. Much as I love caramel apples, they are difficult for me to eat with my small mouth and open bite. A number of years ago, some Fair vendors started selling “caramel apples” as a cored/sectioned granny smith apple with a cup of hot caramel sauce to dip it in. SO good, and so much easier to eat (and to share!) And then there are those great big fancy apples with multiple toppings available at some gourmet shops (and on QVC)…and those are usually cut, because they would be impossible for most people to eat as is!!
If were going to do a presentation….well, I guess I would teach how to make a cloth doll (I taught my long-ago quilt group that)–everything from the “skin” fabrics to drawing the face, stuffing, making the clothes….I have made lots of cloth dolls, and really enjoy it. Recently I started working on a set of four that I started probably 10 or more years ago. Hopefully it won’t be too long before they’ll be done–I have most parts of three of the four stuffed and closed, ready to assemble, so I’m getting there!
(Or, I could do a presentation how to make panties–I’ve made my own underwear since I took a lingerie class at a Stretch-and-Sew store back in the early 70s. I’ve given that presentation to my ASG group.)
Dear Jeanne, Happy Hayride!
A favorite presentation would be about dolls. I have done a few presentations on Madame Alexander dolls and the history of the company for local and national doll clubs.
I have also done presentations on PA history for a preservation society and an historical association.
I have yet to make a presentation on taking Afternoon Tea. That would be fun to do!
Your hayride looks like it will be oodles of fun for the participants, and something new for some! I remember hayrides when younger and a bit more, what would you call it,…spry? Climbing onto a wagon filled with hay and hanging on, will no longer be in my future!☹️
As for those caramel apples, I never made those, but made candy apples for my children’s school’s fall festival and they never failed to sell out! Making candy apples is a bit tricky, and the temps on the stove are VERY hot, so you have to be careful, but my goodness, they were so good!
As far as a presentation, well, let’s see. When I was teaching, I had to make a presentation to a group of elementary teachers on Christmas crafts for them to do with their classes. That’s always a good thing to do, since the children are eager and are very interested in doing things that are fun for them. That is also the best part of being an art teacher to children, since they love expressing themselves and working with various mediums and supplies! Since it is fun for them, you rarely, if ever, have discipline problems!
Okay Linda, I need your recipe for candy apples. I was thinking about them yesterday. My mother always made them for Halloween, and we had kids lined up to get them. I have no idea how to make them. 🙂
Joy, I’ll try to find the recipe, but know it has been YEARS since I made them. I’ll let you know when I find them.
That will be great! 🙂
Joy, I looked and looked, but I don’t think my recipe survived when I went through them several years ago and threw out the ones I didn’t make anymore, and were just there taking up space, unless I missed it. So I turned to recipes on the internet, and found several, which I am sure you would be able to do too, and they include pictures and tips on how to make them. One thing, you do need is a candy thermometer! Another thing, it is a very messy, sticky recipe when making them in the pan, so I would not recommend using a “good” pan for making these. I remember using Red Hots candies in them, and. I usually made 12 candied apples to a single recipe, but that depends on the size of the apples. My advice is just look online for the recipes, since they show better than I could what to do. I have no idea where i found my recipe, since I had never made them before…..or since!!
Hope the hayride remains dry, but sounds like the indoor dance will be fun as well. So many festive foods. Any vegetables/salad available? Ha ha.
Did Jeanne ever get that wedding dress remade? Curious how that will work.
Around here, since we’ve had to reorder another sewer pipe plug, I convinced other person to finish sealing the playhouse roof yesterday. Like Jeanne, I’m the gopher on this one. Up and down the ladder handing up various items as needed. But, it looks like it is pretty much done. Yay. In my spare time, I continued chopping back the hedge and overgrown plantings. However, as I was cutting the bottlebrush, I had to make sure that I didn’t bother the hummingbirds favorite flowers, so I cut from the bottom only leaving all of the blooms above. It’s like a forest in that thicket. Much more to go including ivy climbing the fence behind. 🙁
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 🙂
Jeanne, the fall get together sounds like so much fun – a hayride and square dancing and all those wonderful treats and dishes! You and others hosting it, sure work hard to make it enjoyable for everyone! Btw, caramel apples are one of my most favorite treats in the world!
If I had to make a presentation, it would be all about the care and love and awareness and needs of all creatures on earth. Even bringing to light the many unfortunate animal abuses that need to be stopped or shut down. Amen.
I wish every sofa sister a wonderful weekend. The last of October- now we are headed towards Thanksgiving and then Christmas!! Yay!!
Paula, I think I would join you on that podium for that presentation!
You’re a girl with heart!
Makes two of us!
Wow, Jeanne. What a fun event this has to be! Fingers are crossed that the rain holds off and a great turnout.
Caramel apple quarters are a brilliant idea. Sad to say, I gave up caramel quite some time ago. My mouth is too expensive. 😣
Like Joy, I’m wondering about the wedding dress.
The necklaces are lovely, and I, too, found your pictures of necks very enlightening.
Have a blast and don’t catch cold! 🥰
Sally, would caramel sauce on ice cream be a possibility for you? Or ice cream that has a ripple of caramel through it? Then you could still get that lovely flavor without having to Chew it!!
The idea of serving the international students all the traditional American food for fall is genius. I’m sure they look forward to it every year. Carmel apples in quarters is also so smart…because otherwise you end up with Carmel on your nose, hands and face!..but so worth it!😵💫
The only recent demo I’ve done was on the Madame Alexander Dionne Dolls that began being manufactured in the mid 1930’s. Everyone was so taken with the 5 darling little girls born in rural Canada. Madame Alexander acquired the license to make the dolls so there were several sizes and molds for different ages. I must admit to having several sets and love them all😍.
Dear Kathie, oh my goodness, you have Alexanders also! I can’t remember if I knew that. I went to the Madame Alexander Doll Club Fall Friendship Luncheon in Pittston, PA today!
I don’t have the Dionne Quintets but I do have a gazillion Alexanders, mostly the 8-inch ones.
I would imagine the “Taste of America” to be fun. I love caramel apples, apple cake, and so many fall foods. One year as our final end of the year home school celebration we did a tour of the world where everyone chose a country and talked about it and shared three foods.
Well, it looks like Paula, Sally and I would be the “Three Animalteers” for a presentation. I was going to say to make people aware of the plight of homeless cats and dogs as well as puppy mills, farm animals, poachers etc. Every domestic animal deserves a kind and loving home.
Laura snd Sally, I can see us now- seriously talking to people on stage who don’t know the inside stories about animals and their plights.
Like I said Laura, you are an angel to the kitties you have helped!
Three Animalteers; I love it, Laura!
My favorite thing to eat usually during this time of year I would have to say Pumpkin muffins. I also love those pumpkin cakes with the cream cheese combo. I love to start thinking about the many spices that warm us up in the cooler weather like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and using molasses as well is fun when you make Gingersnaps or gingerbread cookies.
When I was in Comm. College I took a Public Speaking course and my favorite speech that I was so very nervous at but I had fun too, was the History and story of Steiff toys and I brought in my collection of stuffed animals that I purchased while I lived in West Germany in the 1980’s. Even the guys in my class where fascinated with my presentation. It made me feel less nervous when I saw that everyone in my class respected what I had to say and love touching and feeling my private collection of Steiff toys. This has always been my hobby collecting German toys since I was in my early 20’s, 40 years now. I hope you can find something that you really love and talk about it to everyone. Maybe your talent for sewing doll clothes and how you came about doing this from so long ago being a Clothes seamstress and now focusing on Doll only. It is your passion and it should be easy to talk about right? Good Luck to you Jeanne, I know whatever you chose to talk about will be wonderful. Wish we could see you there!
Elaine, that must have been a wonderful presentation!
Do you have your dear new pup yet?
Reading your list of spices and molasses made my mouth water. They are all “homey” and comforting.